About Us

At ProFuse, we are the skeletal muscle growth experts, developing innovative therapies for skeletal muscle loss and cultivated meat production

Advancing Muscle Growth & Innovation

Addressing the critical unmet need for effective drugs against muscle loss, ProFuse leverages its proprietary technological assets to efficiently and accurately discover novel muscle therapies. Our platform enables the high-throughput screening of thousands of compounds, identifying promising candidates with a high translational potential.

For the cultivated meat industry, we sell cutting-edge products, cell lines and differentiation media supplements to significantly reduce costs, enhance muscle growth, increase yield and accelerate production cycles. ProFuse actively collaborates with leading companies seamlessly integrating our products and knowhow into their production processes.

Our Journey & Breakthroughs

Founded in 2021, ProFuse licensed technology developed over six years of research at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Since then, we have achieved significant milestones, including winning first place in the 2021 Israel FoodTech Startup Competition and securing exclusive grants from both the European Innovation Council and the Israel Innovation Authority. We have launched two product lines and are actively supporting our cultivated meat customers in their scale-up efforts. We are particulary proud of our R&D team’s focus on skeletal muscle biology which is strengthened by the expertise of Professors Eldad Tzahor (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel) and Professor. Shulamit Levenberg (Technion, Israel).

The Team

The company’s technology relies on 6 years of research conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science, led by Professor Eldad Tzahor, a world-known expert in developmental biology and cardiac regeneration, and Dr. Tamar Eigler-Hirsh, an expert in muscle stem cell biology.

Board of Directors

Professor Tzahor is considered a world leader in the fields of myogenesis and cardiac development and regeneration. He joined the faculty of WIS in 2003 and serves as the Head of the Molecular Cell Biology Department. The Tzahor laboratory focuses on the development of novel therapeutic approaches by understanding the signaling mechanisms that regulate skeletal and cardiac muscle development and regeneration.

Anat Naschitz is a prominent investor and entrepreneur in the life sciences field, with nearly 30 years of experience in founding, managing, and investing in companies and venture capital funds. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with leading industry players, from major pharmaceutical companies to cutting-edge biotech firms. Notably, Naschitz co-founded and co-led OrbiMed Israel, part of the global healthcare investment firm managing approximately $20 billion.

Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Ralph Laufer is a seasoned drug discovery and development leader with over 25 years of experience in pharma and biotech. He was a key contributor to the discovery of Isentress™️ (raltegravir), the first approved HIV integrase inhibitor, for which he received the American Chemical Society’s 2013 Heroes of Chemistry Award. Ralph has led global R&D teams, contributed to major scientific breakthroughs, and serves on scientific and governance boards across the life sciences sector.

His leadership roles at IRBM-Merck Research Laboratories Rome included directing pharmacology operations from early research to preclinical development. At Teva, he served as Senior Vice President of Discovery and Product Development, overseeing global small molecule R&D operations and driving therapeutic innovation. Later, Ralph was CSO of Lysogene, an AAV gene therapy company focusing on rare neurological lysosomal storage diseases. He currently serves as CSO of Neuvasq Biotechnologies, which is developing novel treatments for retinal and neurological diseases.

Professor Levenberg is a professor at the Biomedical Engineering Department at the Technion – Institute of Technology in Israel. Her discoveries relating to vascularization of stem cell-derived tissue constructs have been discussed in leading journals such as Nature-Biotechnology and PNAS, and have had significant impact on the scientific community. Professor Levenberg was selected by “Scientific American” as one of the world’s 50 leading scientists for her work in tissue engineering.

Ori brings to ProFuse extensive background in processes of cell-to-cell fusion as well as an expertise in multi-modal imaging techniques. He joined the faculty of the WIS in 2017. In his laboratory, he aims to cultivate a thorough understanding of membrane fusion and internalization processes, focusing on their contribution to the structure and function of muscles.

The Investors

The Partners

ProFuse Technology emerged from the IIA-backed FRESH START foodtech incubator program. After successfully graduating from the 24-month program, the company was awarded in 2023 a follow-on IIA grant to support further high-impact research.

In 2024, ProFuse Technology secured a prestigious €2.4 million EIC Transition Grant to accelerate cultivated meat production. This grant acknowledges ProFuse’s groundbreaking technology and its potential to reshape the cultivated meat industry

The ProFuse Technology stems from research conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, one of the world’s top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions.